


Skin deep

by GoodDalekPeppergrinderfromdowntheRiver



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-09
Updated: 2017-04-09
Packaged: 2018-10-17 00:01:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,841
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10582209
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GoodDalekPeppergrinderfromdowntheRiver/pseuds/GoodDalekPeppergrinderfromdowntheRiver
Summary: Prompt from Kurisutori618.A story about how people can't imagine the Doctor being married or being together with River.Like in a story I read about Clara saying to 11 how he didn't tell her he had a wife and then continuing to say River is hot and did the Doctor trick her into marrying him or something and he gets offended but her saying look at you bowtie and chin and look at your wife, all lipstick curves and hotness hahah!! Like I want a story to continue you that and he tells friends or companions and they don't believe he could be with her, like the boy who cried wolf its instead the timelord who cried he's with River Song thing XPOkay I'm finished bambling I just wanted to share because I like how you picture and describe well a story :D]I don't own anything.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Kurisutori618](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kurisutori618/gifts).



> Prompt from Kurisutori618. 
> 
> A story about how people can't imagine the Doctor being married or being together with River.  
> Like in a story I read about Clara saying to 11 how he didn't tell her he had a wife and then continuing to say River is hot and did the Doctor trick her into marrying him or something and he gets offended but her saying look at you bowtie and chin and look at your wife, all lipstick curves and hotness hahah!! Like I want a story to continue you that and he tells friends or companions and they don't believe he could be with her, like the boy who cried wolf its instead the timelord who cried he's with River Song thing XP  
> Okay I'm finished bambling I just wanted to share because I like how you picture and describe well a story :D]
> 
>  
> 
> I don't own anything.

Finally, the Doctor let her pick where they were going. For that, she is grateful. Usually, she let him pick and whilst they would go somewhere exquisite, thedanger would be trailing ominously behind them in the shadows. However, she can get it right; somewhere safe, cosy and dull. A small café on earth, 2016.

Yes, she enjoys the feeling of adrenaline rushing through her blood; her hearts beating vigorously against her chest; escaping from tight situations and the thrill and excitement. However, sometimes, she feels like she knows so little about the man she married. She sees the legend and the oncoming storm and occasionally, the vulnerability and loss. However, she wants to see all the pain and broken pieces that he tries so hard to hide and so she appreciates the opportunities and revelations that just sitting in a café, eating obnoxiously sugary treats and talking will bring.

 

 

He is midway through talking when he spots her. Once he does, he stops, unable to remember what he is about to say and unwilling to tear his eyes away. His mouth is hung slightly open and his mind is filled with the usual stream of indecent thoughts. He will have that beautiful creature!

She catches his eye almost immediately, tilts her head and smirks. Her beautiful green eyes are sparkling with mischief and playfulness as if to say ‘try me.’ And oh, he most certainly intends to. 

She sashays towards him and he is completely memorised watching the way her golden mane delicately swishes in the air. So much so, that when she passes him, he does not acknowledge it straight away. Once he does, he smirks. Hard to get – he wouldn’t like it any other way. It makes the pursuit much more fun and interesting. He abandons the Smith’s, who look rather confused at his abrupt departure. However, once they follow him with their eyes and see him swaggering over to a lady, they roll their eyes – after all, it’s person number three he’s flirted with in under and hour! - and return to their conversation.

She is looking down at her menu, her eyebrows, slightly creased into a frown, deciding what to have, though he is certain that she senses his presence. She slowly looks up, uninterested – though he is certain that she is feigning it. Role play; he likes a bit of that too! She most definitely is his type of woman.

“Captain Jack Harkness,” he says, offering his hand.

She looks at his hand but doesn’t take it, and after seconds, he withdraws it. “Captain?” She says slowly and seductively and he gulps; never has he been so aroused by one word.

“And you, my lovely lady are?”

“Taken,” she says.  

He sits down and chuckles. “Not yet. We haven’t got to the fun bit yet,”

She leans in – he catches a glimpse of under her low-cut blouse, and he salivates in anticipation. Suddenly, his nose is filled with the scent of her perfume. He’s not exactly sure what it is, but he likes it. Sweet like a rose, yet, like the dead of the night, dangerous. She chuckles and he is completely compelled – never has this happened for. Usually, it’s quite the opposite – people usually fall under his spell. It seems that he has just met his match and oh boy, is he excited!

“It’s never going to happen,” she sings, biting her bottom lip as if to apologise, but from the look in her eyes, he knows that she is anything but apologetic – she’s enjoying this as much as he is.

“Oh, trust me, I’ll be able to change your mind,” he insists, leaning in. Now, their noses are practically touching now and damn it, the air around him feels dense, sticky and hot. His breaths become shorter – he can’t help that it is rather intense. However, she seems completely unfazed and unaffected by their close and very intimate proximity. Close up, beautiful doesn’t even cut it. She has a look in her eyes – she’s fire, passionate, intense, she’ll burn him, but it only encourages him. Strands of gold curls fall on her milky skin and the rest falls on her back, wild and untamed like a princess of a warrior tribe.

She leans back nonchalantly and nods her head. “I don’t believe I will,”

 “Will you give me a name?”

“Nope,”

“Go on!” he insists.

She chuckles, then responds “Dr River Song,”

“Ohh, let me guess, a doctor in gorgeousness and I’m sure  _many talents,”_

_“_ Oh yes, that as well. _And yes, I am very talented in ways that you wouldn’t even dream of,”_ she says, satisfied when his pupils dilate and when he gulps. “But, aside from that, I am a doctor in Archeology. Oh, and it looks like your time is up Captain,” she says, eyes turning towards the door of the café.

_Simultaneously, from the table behind them, Martha asks, “Doctor?”_

Timelord. He can manipulate time with his eyes closed and yet he is late. Late again – he is certain that River will not let him live this down!

His spots her immediately as he enters the café – she’s not hard to miss with her space hair and radiance. He frowns slightly – it seems she has company; male company. That’s when he notices just who it is and the people behind him.

Damn it!

He quickly assesses all the possible ways he can escape, but alas – all his ideas are fruitless. There is no escape – not now, especially now River has seen him.

This is not good. Very not good.

A person, in theory, would be happy to see old friends. And of course, he is; he loves his friends. After all, they are the people who are there for him when he has lost his way. They are the people who make him forget the shadows of the past. They are the people who make an otherwise sad life, shine with happiness. However, as always, he loses them. He overindulges and they are stolen from him as penance. He is left older, sadder and broken.

For the fortunate who do not die prematurely, seeing them also sting. For they were so innocent before him. Yes, in fairness, they got to see so much – so much more than any human would see. All the immense beauty harnessed on earth and other planets. Amazing and historical moments across time and space. The stars, solar systems and galaxies. However, he exposed them to the death and destruction and desolate, desperate realities of war. He showed them all the ugliness crawling under rocks and all the hate the world was contaminated with. He left with ordinary people who had their own ordinary and brilliant lives, and he got them hooked on time and space travel as if it were a drug, unable to commit and appreciate every day if it was not coated in the thrill, surprise and danger. And, worse of all, they were hardened by all the destruction. His friends are now soldiers and he is ashamed of what he created– dare he look?

 No. Usually, he ran. Made old mistakes again.

However, now, he has no choice.

He has to face them.

It's only a matter of time that he is spotted – to his surprise, it is not River that calls him, alerting their attention and it’s not Sarah, who has already seen him as his 11th self. No. It’s Martha, spends a minute frowning at him in a ‘do-I-know-you’ way.

“Doctor?” She breathes.  Immediately, they all turn around; all attention is on him,

_T_ here are hugs and it is five minutes later when the Doctor takes a seat beside his wife. The waiter brings over a bowl of custard and a plate of jammy dodgers to the Doctor.

“What are you guys all doing here?” He asks between mouthfuls. The café didn’t have any fish fingers, and so he settled with dipping the jammy dodgers in the custard. His friends look at him rather confused but do not ask assuming that this is just a new quirk that comes with the regeneration.

“Well, it’s our anniversary and we thought we might get some people together and catch up,” Mickey explains, squeezing Martha’s arm.

The Doctor smiles, custard dripping from his mouth. “Congratulations guys.”

“How have you been? What have you got up to?” Sarah Jane asks simultaneously as Martha comments “New face?” They both laugh at their synchronised timing.

“Yes, just one regeneration since the last,” he confirms – preferring Martha’s question as opposed to Sarah’s. He does not want to look back on what he’s been up to – he doesn’t need more guilt on top of the dollops that bury him.

“And he’s been causing trouble all over the universe,” River chuckles.

They all suddenly look at River; yes, they were aware of her presence – who could miss the beautiful lady with the space hair? - but they were all too focused on the fact that they were being reunited with a long-lost friend than to pay her anything more than fleeting attention.

“I’m Sarah Jane Smith. This is Mickey and Dr Martha Smith,” Sarah says, despite the obvious awkwardness. However, she overlooks it, willing to extend a hand of friendship. She’s learnt that the Doctor’s companions are always amiable and so there is never any harm.

“I’m Dr River Song, by the way. A doctor in Archeology and you?”

“I’m a doctor… a doctor of medicine,” Martha says.

The doctor groans slightly and pokes River “Don’t tell people that! Martha can call herself a Doctor, she’s a proper one. But you just rob graves and cheat by using travel “he whines. “Plus, it makes me look uncool. Travelling around with an archaeologist,”

She hits him in the thigh with her elbow and rolls her eyes. “You already look uncool with the bow tie and tweed,” Then she pinches him and feigns a glare “And stop insulting my career!”

The doctor huffs like a petulant child. “Hey!” 

“How did you two meet?” Martha asks, cutting through their banter. She has a feeling that if they are not stopped, then they will perpetually go on like this and though it is cute to watch, she’s too curious to just observe. She has to admit, there is definitely chemistry between them; that flirty sort of relationship that she yearned for when she was his companion. Then, of course, the Doctor was oblivious, almost to the point where it was cruel because was so desperately and blatantly crushing on him and it felt like he was almost deliberately turning a blind eye. She’d begin to think that maybe he just did not do that kind of thing; however, this gangly and goofy doctor proved her wrong

“Umm… it’s a long story. Too long for now. Some other time maybe.” The Doctor responds rather evasively and Martha rolls her eyes – why isn’t she surprised? Same old doctor!

“Never mind that,” Jack interjects. “I believe that I have found true love,” Jack says, eyes never leaving River. She offers him a sultry smile – one which the Doctor blatantly doesn’t approve because if looks could kill, then Jack would merely be a pile of dust in his chair. He has the sudden urge to remind her where they are bound but resists the urge to.

Mickey scoffs “Love? Is that what you call it these days when you’re trying to be polite?”  

“Will you have me?” Jack asks River.

River chuckles – she can feel the Doctor’s glare and she is tempted to say yes, just to have some fun with him. However, she decides to be good and shakes her head. “In anyway, anywhere,” She casts a cheeky glance at her husband, pleased with herself when she sees that he is annoyed. This, River must admit, is fun. She is so used to the Doctor, when he was younger, acting as if she didn’t matter. She was just a stranger, albeit helpful, astute and on his side, he couldn’t quite shake of that sceptical feeling, and so he’d treat her with indifference and coolness sometimes. Therefore jealousy – though it must feel hideous for him – is quite flattering for her. However, realising that she has pushed him a bit too much, she adjust her answer and places her hand on his. “no actually, I’m joking. I’m taken. And, you’re not exactly my type,”  

 “What? Muscular, handsome and charming isn’t your type?” He asks incredulously. “What is?” Jack asks.

She chuckles a bit and furtively glances towards her husband, who catches her look despite her subtlety. He gives her a smug smile and she rolls her eyes. “Man in a suit, preferably. Ridiculous, but well meaning. Excitable.” She turns to her husband and he raises one of his invisible eyebrows. Ridiculous, was he? She quickly darts her eyes to the corners of his lips, glazed with custard – yes, very much so! Sarah Jane and Martha catch this, intrigued – has the Doctor ( the man they had both loved, at some point of time) finally met someone who wouldn’t end up broken hearted? Is he even aware that his companion was not so subtly hinting that he is what she wants?

Jack, oblivious, turns to the Doctor and asks “What part of earth you picked up your new companion from, because I will need to find this place,”

River chuckles. “Firstly, you won’t find anyone like me. I’m unique.” She purrs. “Especially not on earth. Also, I’m not his companion.” She turns to him and smirks, placing a hand on his thigh and squeezing. “I think we have a much more intimate relationship than that,” she says suggestively, as the Doctor recovers from spluttering at her sudden contact.

They are all stunned in silence and River smirks, pleased with herself. The Doctor, however, is now looking rather sheepish. His face is flushed a raw pink colour and he can’t quite maintain eye contact.

“Not from earth? Are you not human?” Sarah Jane asks, at the same time as Jack spits out “Intimate?” as if the very word is a poison curdling in his blood.

“Yes,” he says, scratching his cheek. “She’s… um, River here is my … wife,”

“And yeah. I’m part Timelord.”

“But, she’s… she’s curvy and beautiful. No offence Doc, but you’re wearing tweed and a bowtie. You were eating custard and jammy dodgers like a child. No sign of muscles – not that that changes with regeneration. How did you hypnotise her? I bet you, if she met me first, she’d have me over you,” Jack laughs and then hits a very annoyed Doctor on the back. “I’m joking Doc.”

The Doctor frowns slightly and looks at River, whose busy chatting to Sarah Jane and Martha about how she’s partially Timelord. A joke, Jack said – but the Doctor cannot shake it off because deep down, he questions what the hell she is doing with him. After all, his wife is brilliant. She is not only beautiful – as Jack is fixed on – she is so much more.  She is courageous – he admires her ability to stay strong in the face of adversity. To shrug and seek out something happy and fun, in a world designed to tear her apart. He is used to his thoughts racing and people struggling to keep up, but River keeps up and challenges him intellectually. She makes him feel giddy as he considers her ideas and how to implement them and fiery when he is arguing that she is, in fact, wrong. In those moments – though he would never admit it to her because he most definitely does not want to see the smug look on her face – he feels so alive and aroused. River, he thinks sometimes, is too good for him. She sits around waiting for him because he’s always late. Late to pick her up. Late in realising just how worth it she is. Late in understanding that loving isn’t saving a person from you by cruel words crafted to push them away – it’s letting them see you clearly and in turn, seeing them too.

River turns and frowns at him as if she can hear his thoughts “Shut up you idiot,” she whispers. She squeezes his fingers then gets up. “Need to go to the ladies. Be back in a moment,” She disappears and he sighs.

“Wow Doctor, I never thought you’d settle down,” says Sarah Jane proudly.

“Yes, how did this happen?” Martha asks curiosity yet to be satisfied. “How did you guys meet? How did guys get together?” She knows that the Doctor will shoot her down and evade the question – but still, it’s worth a try.

The Doctor frowns slightly remembering how they met; how the fate of their whole relationship is pretty much sealed. He clenches his fists, willing himself to close the memory; to store it in a box, lock the box and throw it down some deep hole, because now, even though he’d inevitably suffer her loss later, she was there. She was alive. She was flesh and blood. He needed to focus on that. “Um… well, it’s a bit timey wimey and complicated. But, she pretty much fell into my life, knowing everything about me and I knew nothing about her and as time went on, I found out more about her. Our relationship is backwards mostly.”

“But… but how did she know about you?” Martha asks, completely perplexed. If she was in any doubt that the man before her was the Doctor, then this was only proof, because he talked in the same scant manner. He galloped miles per minute, certain that people would keep up and confused as to why people asked questions, clarifying the details he must have dropped.

“She was trained to kill me but then she didn’t because she fell in love with me and then we got married.”

“Kill you?” Jack frowns.

“Did you ever think you would get married?” Sarah Jane asks, who too is intrigued.

“No. Especially not to River. At first, I thought, marriage is too much of a commitment… you get hurt easily… my mind didn’t immediately change when I met River. I just wanted to get away from her.” Jack frowns at the Doctor incredulously as if to say, ‘why the hell would you want to get away from her?!’

“Then as I got to know her, I got scared. She is my perfect match. She understands me and time travel is second nature to her. At first, I discarded the thought thinking, this is stupid. I don’t even like her. Then I started to think, she wouldn’t want me…. She would want to be stuck with me. I mean, yes, she made lots of comments indicating her interest…. But… well… She knows me. What I’ve done. She’s seen me at my worse … I mean, I wasn’t exactly accepting of her when she first came into my life. But she still wanted me, just as I am.”

From behind him, there is a warm soft chuckle. However, he tenses. How was he supposed to know that his wife is was standing behind him? He scolds at himself for allowing words to gallop at a faster pace than he can control.

“Hello dear. Oh, guys, I didn’t tell you about the time-“ he says in an attempt to shift the conversation.  

“I don’t even feel like I know you sometimes,” she says in an uncharacteristically small voice.

He sighs heavily and though he desperately wants nothing more than to abandon topic about their relationship, he cannot help but respond. “I don’t feel like I know you. I see the tough and brave exterior.” He whispers.

She takes the seat next to him and cautiously places her hands in his. She is aware that she has an audience and she most definitely does not want one of her vulnerable moments to be witnessed by anyone. However, she is fully aware that for them, there is no later. They will both realise that for a minute, they let their emotions run unrestrained, but after that, they will be more guarded than ever. Though it is immensely difficult, she swallows her pride and gazes at him. In a tiny voice, she admits, “But I feel like you know me. I feel like there is so much that I’d only share with you. I feel like I am the one not good enough for you.”

“River,” he says as if she is stupid. After a hesitant moment, he places his arms around her waist and pulls her closer to him, so her chin is on his shoulders. He feels a little tense if he is honest. The proximity just isn’t them, after all, they spend their time so often running from or to peril, that it’s a quick kiss or hands held. However, feeling her curls tickle his neck and her skin, burning him, feels natural and comforting like a soft lullaby.

For a second, River is rather shocked – her husband hardly ever initiates physical contact in such a way. Sure, he kisses her and bops her nose, but always, his touch is fleeting. Never has he been so intimate with her. It feels as if she is sat out in the sun in sultry summer’s day; she’s so content with something so simple, yet taken for granted.

Jack frowns slightly – even he cannot deny, what they have, that emotional connection, is beautiful. Something he is yet to feel with someone. Sarah watches them silently, half in awe, and half sad. There is an ache in her heart that she fears will never be alleviated. Nothing can help her now, for she has loved and lost far too many times. Plus, she is old – who would want her, she thinks? Of course, Luke would tell her that she’s amazing and that any guy would be lucky to have her, but the thing was, she is never lucky when it comes to love. For Mickey and Martha, their intimacy is rather contagious. Mickey would like nothing more than to declare his undying love to his wife, regardless of how sloshy it sounds and Martha is tempted to snog her husband like there is no tomorrow. However, instead, she breaks the silence. “Sometimes, sometimes with love, you give yourself to someone else in a way you won’t give yourself to other people… but there are always going to be things that no one is allowed to see…. And after a while… after a while, you learn that you do not need to keep that barrier up…”  

Silence falls again, her friends all drinking in her wise words.

“Okay! Cake! That is what we need to celebrate your anniversary!” The Doctor jumps up abruptly.

River scoffs. “As if you haven’t had enough sugar! Any more, and you’ll be jumping around the place like a child.”

“Hey!” Doctor moans.

“What we need is champagne!” River exclaims.  

“Oh no, I can’t drink… what with…” Martha starts to say. However, she stops herself abruptly.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed! :)


End file.
